Top Ten Tuesdays is a blog activity hosted by The Broke And The Bookish. This week, the theme is the "aaawww" cutie pie moments in books. Since I have less than two of those, I will digress again this week. And since I've been on a crime fiction binge lately, I'm going to talk about the purest form of violence you can inflict on somebody. Mano a mano combat.
1-Narrator Vs Angel Face in Fight Club: The most touching description of a beating and a reading that somehow defined who I will become. He wanted to destroy something beautiful...
2-Bubba Rogowitz Vs Kevin Hurlihy in Darkness, Take My Hand: What's cooler than an old school beating? An old school beating with a completely random prop. Bubba is like a brutal ballet dancer. What he does, he does best and with artistic intent.
3-Billy Lafitte Vs Rednecks in Hogdoggin': It's amazing how destructive people can get when there's no rules that keep them from being so. It's the kind of beating that goes beyond punches and kicks and leaves scars. A lot of scars.
4-Sid Godwin Vs Nick Valentine in Frank Sinatra In A Blender: The Brit is deliciously demented. Valentine is physically capable but for a moment, Godwin makes it look like it's Muhammad Ali Vs a spinal kid.
5-Christmas Beatings in L.A Confidential: I hate cops. They are brutal, power hungry assholes. So imagine what drunken cops can do on Christmas Eve with nothing to do but tend at a few unfortunate criminals who were stupid enough to get caught during holidays.
6-Rorschach Vs Obnoxious Prison Guy in Watchmen: You fuck with Rorschach at your own risk, pal. The great thing about that beating is Rorschach savant use of the ambiance, as Bas Rutten (the Obi-Wan Kenobi of beatings) would call it.
7-Bubba Rogowitz & Nelson Ferrare Vs Poor Schmuck Muscle in Sacred: This is beautiful. Literary art at it's best. I am cheating a little bit here because the beatdown is half psychological warfare, but you have to appreciate Bubba's complete lack of deceitfulness. The man means business.
8-Edmond Dantes Vs Everyone in Count Of Monte Cristo: The second part of Count Of Monte Cristo is interesting like watching a volcano erupt and look at the nearby villagers run for their lives. It is a physical, economic, psychological and philosophical beating.
9-Tracy Lawless Vs Simon in Criminal: Lawless: "I have no problem beating an old man" is about the slickest one liners you can find. It adds even more weight when it's done after physically proving your point with a fist in the teeth.
10-Noritaka Sawamura Vs Everyone in Noritaka: This is fight literature at its best. Noritaka always gets the piss beaten out of him, but in true martial arts spirit he comes back and finds a way to win. Every number of Noritaka has a beating of epic proportions in it.